ARE WE STILL WACO?

     Just finished watching the miniseries about Waco, where the federal government as represented by the FBI and the ATF just about went berserk. They lied, they swore about those lies, they could care less about the original purpose - to address the issue of underage brides - and became so overwhelmed with proving their point, their might, that they destroyed the very people they supposedly were "rescuing" - including 25 children whom they literally killed, gassed and smoked and broiled them to death with the insane maneuvers, the obsessed maneuvers, in order to show they were boss!!
     There is no doubt that many of these so called messiahs or religious leaders have succumbed to the siren call of polygamy, denied followers that 'privilege', or demanded almost slave labor from followers, but it seemed here that in Waco there was abstinence except for David Koresh though the followers went willingly along with it.
     What was clear is that there was no violence and no coercion. What was clear was that there was no battle scene of mad amounts of bullets being fired from within the building. What was true is that the federal forces used tanks, used psy-ops, used tear gas on women and children in a cold manner, allowed the building to go up in flames, but ....they won!! Evidently might makes right still and forever.
     I thought we had moved on from such tactics, learning from the time and time again that these tactics resulted in death to the besieged. Essentially, these actions were war crimes, crimes against humanity and very hard to watch and compare with memories of the lies that were told then. Wrongdoers who defied the federal orders, it seems, were demonized, blamed for everything from bad timing of rain to a persistent itch! It seems that we need to have a villain. It seems that we need to have a something to focus on, to turn our minds away from the awful things going on. So we had Waco or Ruby Ridge or just pick one of the many incidents, but I truly thought we were beyond this tactic of scapegoating. As a Jew, as one who loves the subject of history, I know that my people have been used as scapegoats so many times before and to my horror, I am seeing these signs again, here and in Europe, but here in the USA there is yet another major group of scapegoats - the DACA kids, the Dreamers, the immigrants - are being blamed for all the woes of our country. Poor economy. Job problems. Bad trade balances. Crimes. And crimes. And crimes.
So let's get rid of them, let's raid them, round them up like cattle, besiege them in places of sanctuary, go to war with states who refuse to join in this witch hunt, and now bring on the federal troops!!!! Dear Lord in Heaven! Are we back to Waco? Are we going to kill kids to prove our point, for even if the point were correct - which it is not, in this case - we do not kill the baby to solve the problem. WE do not throw away all that we are supposed to stand for.
     We are meant for better things, for better exemplars to the world. WE are not meant to follow a madman, a hater, a degenerate who uses 280 words at a  time to further his hatred and his insanity. And worse - he has followers who go along with it. You see, the hatred is never far beneath the skin, is it?
     Are we still in Waco? Will we now bring on the tanks, the tear gas, the bullets, the psy-ops, the horrors of Waco and address them to the DACA dreamers, those kids who ARE Americans, who can dream the same dream our parents and grandparents or whomever had when they came and remember - I bet there were oh so many who jumped ship or overstayed or whatever - so should we have the federal government dig into that? Do we follow a Biblical statement that G-d will address the sins of the fathers on the children, even unto the fourth generation?
     Where have we gone? Why have we strayed? Why do we allow hate filled people to drag us back to a time I thought we had long ago left behind? Why do we revert to the worst within us? Why are we doing this? Why? Waco redux is not far behind - and you ask and answer the question - honestly - why?